Sandal with a quickly detachable closure strap



April 25, 1950 4 M; A. WEST ETAL SANDAL WITH A QUICKLY DETACHABLE CLOSURE STRAP Filed Oct. 22, 1948 H wm My Y m .4 5 M m a WW U Patented Apr. 25, 1950 zscss'zs ATENT OFFICE SANDA-L WITH A QUICKLY DETAGHABLE' CLOSURE STIR/AR Max A. West and Louis Aurich, New York, N; Y... assignors to Recordia Manufacturing Go'.,1'n'c'.,

New York, N. Y.

Application October 22, 1948, Serial No. 55,888

This invention relates toimprovements in foot wear. provided with'closures such. as buckle closures which are applied to the outside of the footwear.

The. difficulties involved in closing these buckles, the'pulling, of. the strap through the front part of the rim, the coordination of the holes tothe penetrating-pinand the insertion of the free end offthe tying strap into andthrough the rear portion of the rim are widely known and a further description thereof is not required; various means have been designed to facilitate the closing of those shoe buckles; one of the most common improvements consists in the application of an antifriction roller to the front rod of the buckle, which facilitates the passage of the tying strap through the same. i

A further difliculty arises from the attachment of the buckle to the badly accessible outside of the shoe. The individual who wishes to close the buckle must bend over in order to manipulate the insertion of the tongue into the holes of the tying strap; it is practically impossible to accomplish this difficult task without sitting down and giving to the body a preliminary stretch in order to reach the buckle.

A main object of this invention is to avoid the difficulties resulting from the closing of these shoe buckles and other closures which are applied to the outside of the footwear.

A further object of the same is to reduce the use of the buckle closure to a mere emergency measure and to restrict it to those very rare cases where a change of the strap holes is required.

It is also an important object of this invention to provide the footwear with a second easily operable main closure which is within the easy reach of the wearer.

The application of two-fold closure means to 40 shoes is known.

In addition to customary lacing strings applied to the center portion of the shoe snap fasteners have been provided in its rear portion; these snap fasteners, however, substantiate an auxiliary fastening and releasing means which may only be used in cases where a particularly rapid removal of the shoe is required without opening the shoe strings; moreover the application of these fasteners to the rear portion of the shoe upper reduces the ornamental appeal of the same in a manner which eliminates their practical use.

It has also been suggested to attach to a half shoe provided with the usual fastening strings r: Claim. (01. 36-115) located at the outside of'theshoe; which can only be reached with difiiculty. The. invention completely eliminates the" drawbacks of. the hitherto known double closures and .itfis an object of the same to place, the main closure atla part of the shoe or sandal which not only can be. easily.

reached" but where a self-release is excluded.

With these and additional objects in view which will become apparent as this description proceeds the invention will now be described in its application to a sandal with reference to the accompanying drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment thereof.

In the drawings the figure is an inside perspective view of a sandal equipped in conformity with the invention.

The sandal shown in the drawing is of the type disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 2,167,035.

It consists of a sole I having a protruding edge 20 and an upper composed of a quarter section 3 and a front section 4 consisting of a plurality of straps 5 extending into a top 6. The latter extends into a center tongue 1 provided at its end with a loop 8. The sandal upper is provided with a tying strap H] which is displaceably held by tongue I and passes through its loop 8; this strap,

therefore, is a separate element of the sandal and not permanently connected with the sandal upper.

A buckle I2 is attached to portion E8 of the quarter section 3 for cooperation with holes H provided in the outside end of strap I8.

The buckle I2 is in the usual manner pivotally fastened to the outside of the quarter section 3; the buckle is divided by cross-bridge it into a rectangular front loop I 5 and a rear loop 16; the front rod 13 of the buckle I2 carries an antifriotion roller l'l. Pin 25 is pivotally fastened to cross-bridge Hi.

This buckle is in the customary manner fastened to the outside of quarter section 3. The above described difficulties of inserting the strap into the buckle, pulling the same through its rear loop [6 and inserting the pin 25 into the proper hole are greatly increased by the bad accessibility of this outside location.

To avoid these difficulties an easily engageable and disengageable closure is fastened to the inside part I9 of quarter section 3. This closure is in the instant embodiment of the invention a a flap which reaches over to the outside of the snap fastener which is shown in the open position; the fastener head is located in the inside end portion 24 of the strap H), see Figure 1, and the socket 23 in the inside part 19 of the quarter section 3.

The snap fastener may be replaced by any other closure means which are easily engageable and disengageable such as, for instance, a button attached to the heel section and a button hole in the tying strap.

The buckle remains ordinarily closed and is only opened at some very rare occasions where in compliance with extraordinary circumstances the closing width must be changed; the ordinary closing and opening of the sandal is effected by the snap fastener, which, therefore, is the main closure.

The location of the snap fastener at the inside quarter portion of the shoe or sandal has the great advantage that an involuntary opening of the same is practically excluded.

The invention is applicable to all types of footwear where closures are applied to the outside portion of the shoe or sandal upper; it is also not restricted to the use of snap fasteners at the inside portion of the same and every type of easily engageable and disengageable fasteners may be used in replacement thereof.

What we claim, is:

A sandal comprising a sole and an upper, said upper having a front and a quarter section fastened to said sole, a tying strap provided with holes at the outside end thereof and bridging said quarter section to extend across the instep of the foot, a closure attached to the outside of said quarter section for cooperation with said holes provided in said strap, and a quickly and readily engageable and disengageable fastener closure means applied to the inside of the quarter section and to the inner end of said tying strap.

MAX A. WEST. LOUIS AURICH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

